To be great you have to be unreasonable. You have to be the one who expects more from yourself and the people around you than you are all comfortable giving. You have to get off your butt, get out of that comfort zone and make things happen that no one thought possible. Look, reasonable people […]
Catching Up with Vector Fabrication’s Quang Luong: Here Comes Vietnam!
I have known Quang Luong, the owner of Vector Fabrication, for many years now, and I have always been interested in his business and how it operates, especially since he is the only PCB shop owner I know of who has a company both in the U.S. and in Vietnam. Saigon Silicon City Based on […]
How To Get The Most From Your PCB Vendors
We have talked a lot in this column about how board shops should treat their customers. How they should try to get to know their customers and their needs. So now let’s switch things around and talk about how customers should treat board shops, how they should work with board shops to get the best […]
Book Recommendation – Lead With Humility: 12 Leadership Lessons from Pope Francis
A book recommendation from Dan Beaulieu: Lead With Humility: 12 Leadership Lessons from Pope Francis By Jeffrey A. Krames Copyright 2014 Amacom Price: $14.00 Pages: 124 with source notes 12 great lessons from a great leader Now here is a guy who knows what he’s talking about. No I don’t mean Mr. Krames, although I’m […]
Feds Cracking Down On Iran Embargo Violators
Author’s note: while this is a column I wrote almost two years ago, this problem hasn’t gone away. Feds Cracking Down On Iran Embargo Violators PCB exporter involved A good friend of mine knowing that I am such a strong advocate of ITAR sent me an article that appeared in the September 23 issue of […]
Catching up with Winonics’ Mark Eazell
I have always thought of Winonics as one of the hidden gems of the North American PCB industry. Their well-equipped and well-laid-out facility in Brea, California is one of the more impressive looking PCB facilities in North America today. Winonics is one of three PCB companies owned by JR Controls, the other two being Cosmotronic […]
Book Recommendation – Driven By Difference: How Great Companies Fuel Innovation through Diversity
A book recommendation from Dan Beaulieu: Driven By Difference: How Great Companies Fuel Innovation through Diversity By David Livermore Copyright 2016 Amacom Books Price: $27.95: 276 pages with appendix and index This book makes sense Diversity is a key to innovation in fact I strongly believe as many other well-minded people that diversity has always […]
Catching up with…Tom Kastner
When is the right time to sell your board house? Who is going to buy it? What is a buyer looking for in a PCB fabrication business? These are questions I hear all the time particularly in the past few months as many owners are reaching an age when they are thinking about retirement. So […]
Book Recommendation – Delight Your Customers: 7 Simple Ways to Raise Your Customer Service from Ordinary to Extraordinary
A book recommendation from Dan Beaulieu: Delight Your Customers: 7 Simple Ways to Raise Your Customer Service from Ordinary to Extraordinary By Steve Curtin Copyright 2013Amacom Price $17.95 Pages: 196 with Index A Great read for Customer Care Okay so I’m a sucker for books about customer service. I look for and read them every […]
How to Compete with the Chinese…Don’t
Just do what they can’t do instead While talking to a friend of mine the other day our talk turned to how American Printed Circuit Board shops can compete against the Chinese and other Asian board fabricators. After an extended exchange he turned to me and said. “It’s very simple Dan, the best way to […]